Aberdeen councillors are set to vote on whether controversial plans to transform a city centre park will proceed.
The business case behind the £140m City Garden Project will be voted on by councillors at Wednesday’s full council meeting.
Businessman Sir Ian Wood has committed £50m towards the scheme, while an anonymous £5m pledge has also been made.
A group of seven north-east businessman, including Stewart Milne and Aberdeen Asset Management chief executive Martin Gilbert, have vowed to raise another £15m towards the project
Members will vote on whether the local authority should pursue a £92m Tax Incremental Financing loan from the Scottish Futures Trust to fund the project.
The money would also be used to fund redeveloping St Nicholas House, Aberdeen Art Gallery and the North Denburn Valley as well as the City Circle pedestrian route project.
The business report says the TIF business case has the potential to unlock 6560 full-time jobs and an average of £115.1m per annum of economic growth over 25 years.
More than 85,000 people voted in a public referendum on the contentious project in March with 52% voting in favour of the project.
However, the landscape changed when Labour, who were opposed to the project, won a majority of 17 councillors at the council elections in May. The SNP, who have 15 councillors, and the three Conservative members are in favour of the project.
The Liberal Democrats are allowing their five councillors to vote as they wish on the proposal, although their group leader Aileen Malone is in favour of the scheme.
There are also three independent councillors, Marie Boulton, Andrew Finlayson and former Lord Provost John Reynolds, who form the Independent Alliance Group and are likely to hold the key to the outcome.
Councillor Boulton is expected to put forward an amendment to ditch the City Garden Project and instead use the TIF money to regenerate Union Street, the Arts Centre, the Music Hall, the Lemon Tree and the Mither Kirk.
However, the idea has been criticised by Aberdeen City Gardens Trust as a “do nothing option”.
Director Tom Smith said: “The group is missing the point about transformation that will deliver a real step-change in the regeneration of our city centre.
"There are worthwhile projects in the Independents’ wish list but the reality is that these should be undertaken as part of the ongoing annual investment in the fabric of the city and on their own they will not qualify for a TIF and are unlikely to secure the level of private donations which the City Garden has secured.
"Without a major infrastructure project, like the City Garden with the private sector donations it has attracted, that can demonstrate economic growth Aberdeen will not qualify for a TIF and will lose the opportunity to secure new infrastructure funding.”
For a quick refresher, check out our interactive Union Terrace Gardens Timeline
